Movie Review: Galaxy Quest? More like Galaxy... Best... ugh.

I remember where and when I first saw Galaxy Quest like it was yesterday some random day years ago, which is to say not very well at all.  I do remember clearly my surprise at how excellent the movie was, seeing as how I had never heard anything about it from anyone.  Looking back on it now, I don't know how I didn't anticipate it's greatness.  Chalk it up to the naivete of youth, or the lack of hype from Hollywood, or the stupidity of Thomas.  None of that matters now, though.  What matters is that Galaxy Quest and I found each other, and have had a beautiful relationship since then.

I can't deny that this looks pretty lame.

For those of you who are not initiated, Here is the briefest synopsis:  The cast of a Star Trek type television show is mistaken for actual heroes by an alien race seeking aid against a mighty alien foe.  The aliens pick up the whole cast from a comic-con type convention and bring them aboard a ship designed exclusively from the episodes of the old TV show.  I just got bored typing that much, so that is all you get.

Surely those of you who haven't seen the movie are skeptical.  I was skeptical myself until the glorious day when my laziness overcame my desire to find the television remote (Side note: Necessity is the mother of invention, but laziness is the mother of hey-look-what-I-found-because-it-was-right-within-arms-reach-but-it-turned-out-really-well-in-my-favor-so-suck-on-that-you-bunch-of-go-getters).  What makes the movie so good, you ask?  You didn't ask?  SOMEBODY ASKED, I HEARD IT.

First of all, the actors in this movie are phenomenal.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I love 90% of the people in this movie (yes, Tim Allen too).  It is a prime example of that movie where you keep thinking to yourself, "Oh, he is in this?  Waitwait, she is in this too?"  Yeah buddy, he and she both is.  Observe:

Tim Allen and Ms. We...woowww

Tim the Tool Man Taylor and S. Weaver
After playing himself on tool time, then himself turning in to Kris Kringle, Tim Allen decided to tackle something a little off the wall for him, something he couldn't relate to at all; washed up TV actor.  Where oh where could he have gotten his inspiration?  How was he able to channel this role so perfectly?  My guess is he took an acting class from James "Fivehead" VanDerbeek (zing!).  This was the part Tim Allen was born to play.

As for the female lead, well, I'm afraid of misspelling her name so I will just refer to her as "SW."  Having already proven her worth as a sci-fi action heroine in the Alien movies, SW decided to take another foray into the genre, this time as the "eye candy" role from the old Trek-esque TV show.  As you can tell from the picture above, she really, um, embraces the role wholeheartedly.  The banter between the two leads is excellent and probably a little bit genuine, as I imagine Tim Allen is sort of a prick*

*I blame Buzz Lightyear for making me think this.

Snape.  Snape.  Severus Snape.

Uh... have fun with that.

 








Snape and Monk
These guys are awesome.  Rididulously popular and successful television series aside, neither of these men ever get to be the "leading man," but they both bring so much to the table in every role they ever get their hands on.  In this movie, Alan Rickman gets to play the "Spock" type logical character, while Tony Sha... Monk basically plays an engineer who spends the entire movie stoned out of his mind.  They never show it, but I guarantee they were trying to imply it.  Both are hilarious, both deliver their lines perfectly, and both completely nail the satirical aspect of the movie perfectly.

Comic relief in a comedy?  Somehow yes.

  I can't think of any character he plays
No jokes here, basically Sam Rockwell steals the show.  Just another in the long list of great actors who were perfect for this movie, this is the character that will get the most laughs out of people that are familiar with Star Trek, mostly because (NERD KNOWLEDGE REDACTED).




Some other notable people in the movie are Justin Long as probably himself, Rainn Wilson before there was an Office, and the token black guy who, despite not being Gus from the TV show Psych, does an excellent job as the former child actor of the bunch.  In short, everybody is good.  I guess I could have just said that to start with.

Basically, I can't urge you enough to watch this movie if you haven't already.  Whether you like Star Trek or not, this movie is absolutely hilarious, and accomplishes the feat of being a brilliant satire and also a true homage to it's source better than pretty much every other movie of its ilk.  See it.

SCORES
This might come as a bit of a surprise, but I'm going to give this movie high marks.

*****  <---- that is Five Stars!
10/10 <-------- A perfect ten!
A+  <---------- I went to hippie school so I don't understand GPA!  But I know that is good!